Freddie Mercury was born today in 1946. The Queen frontman was known for his powerful vocal range and live performances, but also as the composer of many of Queen’s biggest hits such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Killer Queen,” “Somebody to Love,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” and “We Are the Champions.” Mercury died of complications from AIDS at his home in London’s Holland Park at age 45, one day after he publicly announced he was HIV positive.
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1945 – Boudleaux Bryant and Felice Scaduto get married. The couple become one of the most successful songwriting teams in pop music, with over 700 songs published, including “Wake Up Little Susie” and “Bye Bye Love.”
1956 – Elvis Presley surprised his mother with a gift of a pink Cadillac. The car remained in the Presley family and eventually went on display at Graceland.
1964 – British group The Animals hit No. 1 in America with “The House Of The Rising Sun,” a folk song set in New Orleans about either a brothel or a prison.
1965 – The Rolling Stones recorded their eighth single, “Get Off Of My Cloud”, at RCA studios in Hollywood. The song peaked at No. 1 in the U.S.
1967 – Working at Abbey Road studios, The Beatles began recording John Lennon’s new song “I Am the Walrus,” recording 16 takes of the basic backing track. The song was featured in the Beatles’ television film Magical Mystery Tour and was the B-side to the No. 1 single “Hello, Goodbye”.
1978 – Joe Negroni from Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers died of a brain hemorrhage. (The group had the 1956 U.S. No. 6 single “Why Do Fools Fall In Love”).
1980 – Gary Numan released his second solo album, Telekon. It features “We Are Glass” and “I Die: You Die.”
1981 – Stevie Nicks went to No. 1 on the U.S. album chart with Bella Donna, featuring the songs “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (the Tom Petty duet), “Leather and Lace” (with Don Henley), “Edge of Seventeen” and “After the Glitter Fades”.
1981 – Soft Cell hit No. 1 in the U.K. with an electronic cover of “Tainted Love,” a song originally released by the American soul singer Gloria Jones in 1964.
1986 – Dire Straits won the MTV award for Best Video for “Money For Nothing.”
1989 – Soundgarden released Louder Than Love, the first grunge album on a major label (A&M).
1989 – Young M.C. released his debut album, Stone Cold Rhymin’. It features “Bust a Move” and “Principal’s Office.” Flea plays bass on both of his hit tracks.
1990 – A new star, honoring B.B. King, the “Beale Street blues boy,” was added to the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
1991 – R.E.M. won the Video of the Year award for “Losing My Religion”, in addition to Best Group Video and Breakthrough Video, and were nominated in three other categories.
1993 – The Red Hot Chili Peppers finally settled on a guitarist, Dave Navarro, who has been with band off and on since.
1998 – Aerosmith scored their first U.S. No. 1 single with the Diane Warren written song “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”. The song, which was featured in the 1998 film “Armageddon”, gave the band their first No. 1 single after 28 years together.
2007 – Influential blogger Perez Hilton declares himself “obsessed” with the unsigned artist Eric Hutchinson, earning the singer 3,000 new MySpace friends and serious industry buzz, leading to a deal with Warner Bros. Records.
2008 – The first Fender Stratocaster set alight on stage by Jimi Hendrix is auctioned. The guitar sells for $575,000 to collector Daniel Boucher – less than the $1 million predicted. It is one of only two guitars definitively burned by Hendrix – the other was at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.
2014 – Banks released her debut album, Goddess. It features “Beggin for Thread,” “Drowning,” “Brain,” and “Warm Water.”
2014 – Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs released her debut solo album, Crush Songs.
2016 – An asteroid was named after Freddie Mercury to mark what would have been the singer’s 70th birthday. Queen guitarist Brian May told a gathering of fans in Switzerland that the asteroid would now be known as Asteroid 17473 Freddiemercury.
2017 – Former Tower of Power lead singer Rick Stevens died age 77 after a battle with cancer.
2020 – Metallica become the first act with #1 songs on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs chart in four different decades when their live version of “All Within My Hands,” recorded with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, takes the top spot.